Since joining the NASCAR Cup Series full-time in 2005, Kyle Busch has won at least one race every season. For those keeping score at home, it’s been 19 consecutive seasons since the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion reached victory lane, which is an all-time record. However, with just two races remaining in the 2024 season, Busch remains winless and his legendary streak is in danger of being snapped.

It’s not that he hasn’t been close, it’s just that the planets haven’t aligned for the Las Vegas native over the first 34 races of the season, which really shows how It’s difficult to reach victory lane with the parity displayed in modern NASCAR. Cup Series races.

Last weekend, Busch came home with a disappointing 31st place after leading a few laps early in the race, but was ultimately buried deep in the pack after an early-race strategy call aimed at staying on the right path to gain track position did not work. . Busch was nevertheless encouraged by his team’s struggle to try to right the No. 8 car, which suffered in the dirty air.

“I wish we could have come away with a better finish with the Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but we didn’t have much today,” Busch said. “The good thing is we led a few laps today. Early in the race we were loose, tight in the middle and loose. Crew chief Randall Burnett and all the guys on the team brought a ton changes throughout the race, but we never found a setup that worked. It’s frustrating to race in dirty air, but that’s how it goes some days.

In a season where 18 different drivers have won a race, it’s inconceivable to think that Busch hasn’t, but that’s where we are. A frustrating 34 weeks gave Busch two final chances to continue his streak of record-breaking seasons with a NASCAR Cup Series victory.

While it’s easy to rule out Busch, the 39-year-old has accumulated five wins in total between Martinsville Speedway, host of this weekend’s Xfinity 500, and Phoenix Raceway, host of the NASCAR Cup Series championship race of the next weekend.

There is a glimmer of hope that Busch can still find his way to victory before the end of the season.

“This team is determined and we still have two races left to get a victory before the end of the season,” Busch said.

After a three-win season in 2023, I think I mostly expected Busch and Richard Childress Racing to win early and often in their second year together. And early in the season, it really looked like that would be the case.

Busch started the 2024 season with a bang as he was in contention for victory in the season-opening Daytona 500, the sport’s most prestigious race that Busch has yet to win. However, a problem on pit road late in the event caused Busch to lose valuable track position, and after leading 12 laps, he was relegated to 12th place.

The following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway was even more heartbreaking. Busch, who led 28 laps in the race, came out of the final turn on the final lap of a three-way drag race with Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney for the race victory. In a photo finish, Busch would officially be marked third at the finish line.

In the third race of the season, Busch again led 18 laps and appeared to have a car capable of winning, but another costly mistake on pit road led to a disappointing 26th place finish. However, the writing was on the wall, Busch was going to find his way to victory on any given weekend.

Until he doesn’t.

Busch won the pole at Dover Motor Speedway in April, led 34 laps, but ultimately settled for a fourth place finish that day. In the next race at Kansas Speedway, he again led 14 laps and was decent, but he would come home with an eighth place finish.

Even though Busch hadn’t won, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was headed for a victory and he was firmly inside the playoff cut line. That is, until a miserable eight-race stretch from Gateway in June to the Brickyard 400 in July.

Busch suffered five retirements during that eight-race stretch, and he fell well outside the playoff cutoff line. A once promising season that suddenly is no longer so.

However, with his playoff hopes up, Busch came alive over the final three races of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season. At Michigan, he led 24 laps en route to a fourth-place finish, the following week at Daytona International Speedway, Busch had a legitimate chance to score his first victory of the season. But he missed a late race battle with Harrison Burtonwho won his first career victory. It was a devastating turn of events for Busch and the No. 8 team, but by the regular season finale at Darlington Raceway, it seemed like everything was finally going well for Busch.

Starting 17th, the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet found himself second in the final laps with fresher tires than race leader Chase Briscoe. As Busch stalked his prey, Briscoe was unfazed and the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was able to hold off Busch for the win. Busch finished second for the second week in a row.

In the playoffs, it was tough for Busch, but at the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, it was finally Busch’s turn. He started third and led 26 laps, but as the race drew to a close, Busch found himself in a battle with Ross Chastain for the race victory.

Busch, feeling pressure from Chastain building from behind as he tried to make a lap on Chase Briscoe’s No. 14 car, misstepped and lost control exiting Turn 2. Busch spun off spin from the front of the race, and in an instant, his attempt at victory was over. He would finish 19th.

In the four races following the Kansas disappointment, Busch struggled to achieve winning speed. The driver of the No. 8 enters this weekend’s race at Martinsville after a streak of seven consecutive races outside the top 10.

The driver and his team will look to shake off their recent funk in an effort to score their first win of the season in Sunday’s Xfinity 500, and if they do, Busch will extend his already record 19 consecutive seasons with a win. in the 20-man NASCAR Cup Series.